April home sales slow with high mortgage rates, prices, putting chill into spring buying season

By ALEX VEIGA Associated Press Business Writer Sales of previously occupied U S homes fell in April as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices discouraged prospective home buyers during what s traditionally the busiest time of the year for the housing sphere Existing home sales dropped last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of million units the National Association of Realtors declared Thursday The sales decline marks the slowest sales pace for the month of April going back to March s sales pace was also the slowest for that month going back to Related Articles Supreme Court tie vote dooms taxpayer funded Catholic charter school in Oklahoma Kermit the Frog to deliver commencement address at the University of Maryland graduation US filings for jobless aid a proxy for layoffs inch down modestly last week as uncertainty lingers Small plane crashes into San Diego neighborhood setting homes and vehicles on fire Rapper Kid Cudi is set to testify at the Sean Diddy Combs trial Sales fell compared with April last year The latest home sales fell slightly short of the million pace economists were expecting according to FactSet Home prices increased on an annual basis for the nd consecutive month although at a slower rate The national median sales price rose in April from a year earlier to an all-time high for the month of April The affordability condition is clearly hurting the realm particularly higher mortgage rates disclosed Lawrence Yun NAR s chief economist The U S housing realm has been in a sales slump since when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows Sales of previously occupied U S homes fell last year to their lowest level in nearly years The average rate on a -year mortgage has remained relatively close to its high so far this year of just above which it set in mid-January The average rate s low point so far was five weeks ago when it briefly dropped to The elevated mortgage rates which can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers have kept frozen out several would-be homebuyers even as the inventory of homes on the realm has risen sharply from last year There were million unsold homes at the end of last month a increase from March and higher than April last year NAR noted That translates to a -month supply at the current sales pace up from a -month pace at the end of April last year Traditionally a - to -month supply is considered a balanced industry between buyers and sellers